“No,” he croaked, then cleared his throat. “No, you’re amazing.” He leaned over and pressed a light kiss on her lips.
“I don’t need a fucking pity kiss!”
“What?”
“You heard me. I don’t want your pity!” Theia snapped. “I wasn’t one of these battered wives who gets beaten up by their husbands every Saturday night. I was never a battered wife. I wouldn’t have tolerated that. He never laid a hand on me during the marriage. Scared the hell out of me, yes, with his crazy behavior, but never touched me in anger until I left him. I don’t want your pity, because that would mean I’m a victim, and I refuse to be a victim.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I feel sick about the horrible things you went through, but I don’t know how to express that without pissing you off. And no, you’re not fucked up. A little testy but not fucked up. I don’t know how you stayed mentally healthy, but you did. I’d want you on my team any day if we were going into combat,” he reassured.
“Isn’t that what we’re about to do?”
“Point taken,” Jack acknowledged.
“So, is there anything else you want to know?” Theia narrowed her eyes at him.
“No, I’m good,” Jack replied, warily. To his dismay, Theia’s recitation had not diminished Jack’s growing attraction to her. He knew she would not be like any woman he’d ever known, but he couldn’t deny his interest in her, even though it surprised him. He avoided relationships entirely, since he moved around so frequently. Now that he was finally beginning to fall, did it have to be with someone so complicated? But in all fairness, he couldn’t see how Theia was at fault in any of any of the things that had happened. He just wished his heart would have chosen someone less complex.
“Well, I’m tired of waiting around. Now that we’ve decided to do something, I need to get started,” Theia muttered. “I don’t sit still well.”
“You’re going to have to for another day or so, if for no other reason than the sight of you would frighten animals and small children. Where the hell is my sister?”
Both Jack and Theia found themselves engaged in silent internal battles, each feeling attraction to the other, yet fighting it with all their might. As a result, they grew impatient and prickly.
Lu finally arrived, carrying a briefcase stuffed with files and notes.
“So did you find anything good?” Jack asked.
“I made a good start. I have the names and contact information for Donald’s parents and siblings, and Rose’s sister,” Lu replied.
“What about Rose’s parents?” Theia asked.
“Deceased.”
“No other siblings?” Theia wanted to know.
“No, just Colleen. Realize this information is three years old. We’ll start with this and branch out. Do you think she’s dead?” Lu turned to Jack.
“What? Who?” Jack asked.
“Rose, you idiot. Do you think she’s dead?” Lu asked again.
“Probably. And she probably wished she was dead long before she was,” he answered grimly.
“We have to hold out hope that Rose is alive and that we’ll find her in time,” Theia insisted.
“Agreed. And since Rose has only one close living relative – her sister - I suggest we start with her,” Lu offered.
“I met her, she’s a real piece of work,” Theia said. “She made a huge scene at my office and demanded that I help her, although she had no idea what I could possibly do that would be helpful. When I said there was nothing I could do except cooperate with the police, she cursed at me and stomped out. I say we give her to Jack.”
“Don’t speak too soon,” Lu cautioned. “That leaves the asshole’s relatives, and my bet is he didn’t fall too far from the tree.”
“Okay, I’ll hold off on dumping Colleen on Jack,” Theia conceded. “So what else do we have?”
“We have Donald’s parents, his brother and two sisters,” Lu answered.
“Where do they live?” Jack wanted to know.
“His parents live in a rural area about an hour out of town,” Lu reported. “The brother’s in prison, or was three years ago. One sister lives here, the other lives in Seattle.”
“Other than the one in prison, do they have criminal records?” Theia asked.
“The sister in Seattle doesn’t show up anywhere in the criminal databases,” Lu said. “The local sister has an assortment of possession, bad check and peace disturbance arrests. Nothing major, she just looks like a person who doesn’t like to follow the rules.”
“What’s the brother doing time for?” Jack wanted to know.
“He’s in for aggravated assault, armed criminal action, illegal weapons possession and felony murder,” Lu replied.
“Vat a nice boy,” Theia said, feigning a Yiddish accent.
“What crime was he committing at the time of the felony murder?” Jack asked.
“He and a couple of buddies were hitting a convenience store. One of them – no one will say which one – got a little stupid and shot the clerk, even though he’d already given them all the money and hadn’t resisted them,” Lu answered, disgusted. “The clerk was a kid trying to work his way through college. They shot him in the stomach and left him there to bleed to death.”
“Well, if he’s not still in prison for that, there’s something wrong with the system,” Theia said.
“Definitely. So, how do we want to proceed?” Jack asked.
“You’re the spook, what do you suggest?” Theia asked him.
“I am not a spy!” Jack protested.
“If you feel better saying that, you go right ahead. How do you, Mr. Not A Spy, suggest we proceed?” Lu taunted.
He glared at her.
“Brilliant rebuttal,” Lu responded.
“If you were like this the whole time you were growing up, I’m surprised your parents let you live,” Theia commented.
“Well, they did move a couple times but we always found them,” Lu said.
“Okay, let’s act like grown-ups and make a list. We have Rose’s sister, Colleen—lives here in St. Louis. She’s a pain in the ass but she might be the least of our worries. Then we have Donald’s parents, who, since they raised him and a felony murderer, are probably hell on wheels,” Jack pondered.
“We have a sister in Seattle and a brother who was in prison as of three years ago. And we have the local sister who is a petty criminal. Is there anyone else?” Theia asked.
“No, that’s the entire Norman Rockwell painting,” Lu said.
“I think the first thing we should do is find out where they are today. Were you able to run any other checks on them at the office, Lu?” Theia asked.
“Yes. I checked with the Department of Motor Vehicles. They don’t have any addresses that are more recent than these, but that doesn’t mean much. People move all the time and don’t change their driver’s licenses until they have to renew. I checked with the state for income tax withholding under these names, but I didn’t find any more recent addresses. In fact, I hardly found anything there. If they’re working, they’re using fake social security numbers.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me,” Jack stated.
“Hey, Lu – are you breaking any rules getting this info?” Theia asked.
“Do you drive 55 on the highway?” Lu replied.
“Seriously! I don’t want you to lose your job!” Theia insisted.
“Seriously! I don’t want you to get jumped again,” Lu responded. “We have to do some self-help here. You know the cops aren’t going to dig as deep as we will.”
There was a tense silence.
“Does anyone mind if we finish what we’re working on?” Jack asked. “All right, first we need to find out where each of these upright citizens are now. With any luck, some of them will still be where they were three years ago.”
“I’ll bet you five bucks the brother’s still in prison,” Lu said.
“No way am I taking that bet,” said Theia. “Want to hop online to see if we can find them?”
“Most people are hiding in plain sight,” Jack said seriously.
“Ignore him. He has gone into spook mode,” Lu told Theia.
“I give up,” Jack said.
“Good. I’m tired of your lame denials,” Lu said smugly.
They spent the next hour checking social media, telephone directories and other online people finder resources. They managed to find some alternate addresses for some of Donald’s family, but the information was contradictory, so they would have to resort to good old legwork.
“This may sound like a dumb question, but why are we trying to find all these people?” Theia asked. “What are we planning to do, knock on their doors, and ask if they’re hiding their brother who just beat his wife to a pulp and probably killed her? I’m sure they’d willingly turn him in if we ask nicely.”
“No, of course not. That would be ridiculous,” Lu replied. “Jack has a plan.”
“No I don’t. You’re the one with the plan, remember? Step one, gather information; step two, find the bad guy; step three, kick his ass and rescue Rose,” Jack retorted.
“Okay, so there are a few blanks to fill in, but we’ve made a good start,” Lu said.
“A good start? We’ve hardly done anything,” Theia threw her arms in the air. “Ow! Damn. Remind me not to move quickly, that hurt like a sonofabitch.”
“Here, I’ll get you an ice pack,” Jack jumped up and ran into the kitchen.
“Don’t hide in there. You have to help us figure out a plan,” Lu called out.
“Hey, it was worth a try,” he admitted, coming back into the room with an ice pack.
Theia frowned. “How will we know we’re talking to the right people? When we go to their houses, they could tell us they’re someone else, and we’d never know. I seriously doubt they’ll show us their driver’s licenses.”
“Good point. I wonder if Rose’s sister Colleen knows them. She might have some family photos,” Jack suggested.
“Great idea. We’ll start with her,” Theia said, happy to have even a little bit of a plan. Then she frowned.
“What?” Lu asked.
“Colleen wasn’t exactly happy with me when she stomped out of my office.”
“Well, maybe she’ll change her tune if she knows we’re trying to find her sister,” Jack suggested.
“Can we trust her enough to tell her that?” Theia worried. “What if she tells them?”
“Why would she do that? Ratting us out won’t help her sister,” Lu said.
“And she might have other information that could be helpful,” Jack added. “So, tomorrow we go visit Colleen. And now, I’m hungry. Let’s get something to eat before I chew my leg off.”
“We’d better feed the beast. He gets really cranky when he’s hungry,” Lu said.
They called the local Chinese joint and placed an order for delivery.
“They’d better be quick,” Jack complained.
“Oh, good grief. Go raid the pantry while we’re waiting. God, is he always like this?” Theia asked Lu.
“No, usually he’s worse. He’s on good behavior because he has a crush on you.”
“What?”
Jack ducked into the kitchen in search of snacks. Lu had the good sense to follow him. “I’ll fix drinks,” she called over her shoulder.
“Not the atomic bomb you gave me last night!” Theia called back, then plunked down on the sofa. Had she heard Lu correctly? Jack simply couldn’t be interested in her. He was good looking, and she couldn’t deny a healthy physical attraction, but she had sworn off men. Too bad that also mean swearing off sex, because she could imagine his hands touching her in ways she had not been touched for a very long time. What was she thinking? She had to stop this immediately. No men - ever. If you don’t let them close, they can’t hurt you.
After dinner, Theia assured Jack and Lu she was fully capable of spending the night alone. They planned to meet up the next morning to visit Colleen. When she finally nudged them out the door, Theia called her friend Mollie.
“Sorry to call you at home, but I didn’t want you to worry since I didn’t come in today,” Theia began.
“I was a little curious. Did you give yourself the day off?”
“Yes, but it wasn’t really voluntary. I got jumped at my car after court yesterday and I look pretty bad. Feel pretty bad, too.”
“You what? What happened?”
“I was putting my briefcase in the trunk when someone threw a sack over my head and punched me a bunch of times.”
“Oh my God! Did you go to the emergency room?”
“No, I called Lu and she babysat me.”
“You know you could have called me. I would have been happy to come over,” Mollie sounded a little hurt.
“I know, but I didn’t want to disrupt your evening with the family.”
“It would have been fine. Do you want to come stay over here for a few days?”
“No, I’ll be okay, thanks.”
“Was Donald the one who jumped you?”
“I didn’t see who it was, but I think so.”
“Did the police arrest him?”
“No, he was gone when they got there. Look, I’m gonna to be all right. I’ll take off a few days. I’m just bruised. I’ve had worse.”
“Yes, you have.”
“Mollie?” Theia hesitated.